The Old Red Duster

[Ian Adrian Millar]

THE OLD RED DUSTER

One wintry evening cold and gray,
My father beckoned me,
To come and sit by firelight,
Where a gift he gave to me.

He handed me a canvas bag,
Brass grommets long turned green.
I felt a knot form in my throat,
Where thank you should have been.

Break that sacred fabric out,
My father said to me.
And the scarlet folds, they tumbled down,
Across my shaking knee.

That's the weave we're made of son,
Seafaring men as we.
Beneath the Old Red Duster,
We've sailed on every sea.

Yes, true, she's but the merchant flag,
But I can tell you will.
No prouder battle flag has flown,
Over rolling ocean swell.

And so I pass this on to you,
My father said to me,
Getting up to poke the coals,
He gave my arm a squeeze.


By Ian A. Millar

[Ian Adrian Millar]

Thank you for the feedback. I was not in the Merchant Navy but my father was as well as my great grandfather and several of his brothers, a few of them 1914-18 veterans. Dad was 1939-45. Very proud of our family seafaring heritage.

[Keith at Tregenna]

Cheers Ian, quite enjoyed the poem.

It would be great if you would allow this to be shared,
with all due credit to yourself.

I am certain that many other in the Merchant Navy
Association etc, would also enjoy your work.

Regards,

Keith.

[Ian Adrian Millar]

Thank you I would be happy to share my work with others and anyone wishing to publish this poem is certainly welcome to do so with credit to me.

Ian A. Millar

[Keith at Tregenna]

Thanks again Ian, I will advise on feedback.

Keith.

[Harry Nicholson]

Those are fine sentiments, Ian. I see you are a genealogist -- me too; I've been working on the family since 1965 and uncovered 400 years of North Sea fisher folk and harbour pilots. I found a brief diversion when an ancestor around 1750 was elected to the office of Ale-Taster to the town of Hartlepool. Best wishes for your researches.

[Ian Adrian Millar]

Thank you for your comment Harry, I have been doing the genealogy research on various branches of my family and at times it has been quite a challenge to find out anything. However from time to time a bit of data will come along adding a little to the overall story. I am currently working on my Welsh ancestors and I have been able to gather quite a lot of data on my Great Grandfather and several of his brothers who were all seafarers from Aberystwyth. I hope one day to publish a report of this family of forgotten seafarers. I can only imagine that the position of "Ale Taster" would have been a welcome change from bouncing off the bulkheads of fishing vessels. My Grandfather on my mother's side was an owner of schooners up Cape Breton way and he was a fisherman out of New Waterford and Ingonish Cape Breton. Genealogy as I see it never ends and you can link up family connections and at times find some interesting story. Good luck with your research.

Ian

[happy daze john in oz]

The flag reminds me of an incident some years ago on a cruise ship.
The deck hand came to take it down from the stern jack just prior to sailing from the port we were in.
No concept of what this flag may mean to so many he just stuffed it away in a box with some cleaning products and a dirty old bucket.

I was so angry I wrote a letter to the staff captain about half an hour later, explaining the history of the flag and what it meant to so many.
I included that my grandfather spent four days on a life raft in WW1 when the ship he was an engineer was torpedoed. He sailed under that flag.

Next day I was called to the service center where I was greeted by the chief officer, an Englishman, who offered his apologies and ensued me it would not happen again.
I kept an eye on it and sure enough it did not happen again.

Now every time I see it being taken down, if I can I make sure where it is put, so far all is fine.

[Ian Adrian Millar]

I expect that deck hand got a good lecture and hopefully gained some education and respect of the flag he was sailing under.

[happy daze john in oz]

I expect that deck hand got a good lecture and hopefully gained some education and respect of the flag he was sailing under.

The maddest point in all of this is the fact there is a flag locker where all the flags ae kept, all he had to do was take it back there.
I have seen one of them and they are very well laid out, each one having it's own Pigeon hole.